


What Dreams May Come

by Laurali25



Category: The X-Files
Genre: Episode Related, M/M, Nightmares
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-17
Updated: 2018-04-17
Packaged: 2019-04-24 02:56:59
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,343
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14346543
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Laurali25/pseuds/Laurali25
Summary: Via Negativa Remix - What happened after Doggett and Skinner solved the case.





	What Dreams May Come

“Yeah”

“It’s Agent Scully. I’m sorry to wake you, I got a call from about 20 minutes ago from Assistant Director Skinner. An agent is dead, Skinner had him surveilling a religious cult in Pittsburg. All the followers are dead as well.” John internally groaned. 3:26 in the morning with this kind of business. Scully informed him that she wouldn’t be joining him on this case. He was worried about her but trusted her when she said she was okay. 

The next morning Doggett met up with AD Skinner at the crime scene. After being shown Agent Leeds’ body, Doggett knew his day was going to be weird, and after finding Agent Stedman’s body, Doggett gave up all hope of ever be assigned a normal case. 

The bodies were bagged and sent to the medical examiner’s office and Skinner and Doggett went back to DC. The meeting with Kersh could’ve gone better. Skinner knew that Agent Doggett was going to need a lot more proof of his theory then he had, but he also knew this case was going to require them both to think a little more like Mulder and Scully and a lot less like themselves.

Agent Doggett took a seat in the police station while Skinner took care of the details with the local PD concerning Dr. Bormanis. Eyes slipping closed, Doggett found himself staring at Tippet, floating above the bench he was sure he was sitting on moments ago. His hands were warm and tacky, Doggett looked down to the decapitated head of Assistant Director Walter S. Skinner. Opening his mouth to scream, no sound came out. Agent Doggett jerked awake at the large hand on his shoulder. 

“Agent Doggett? It’s Agent Scully.” Doggett took the phone and after hanging up he took Scully’s words to heart. Rushing to see their prisoner, they discovered the good doctor, dead in his cell. 

“The drug was a super-amphetamine, nothing like they’d ever seen before.”

“He was afraid to go to sleep. Tippet’s going to need more drugs if he want to keep this up.”

After finally catching a break and then the disturbing show in the warehouse, Doggett was finally home. He could’ve sworn he saw Tippet standing right behind him. Shrugging it off as exhaustion from a long and very unusual case, Doggett slid into bed. 

~~~

Skinner approached the door slowly, it felt like there were little bugs crawling all over his skin. He couldn’t explain where it came from but he knew something was wrong. The door was unlocked and cold dread settled heavy in Skinner’s stomach. 

“John! You in here?!” Calling for several minutes and thoroughly checking the upstairs, Skinner saw a flash run by the sliding glass door. 

“John!” The AD was in hot pursuit, he could see Agent Doggett darting through the woods behind his home. It seemed that every time Skinner gained some ground, Doggett would dart off in another direction. Skinner could feel his heart hammering in his chest then come to almost a complete stop as he saw his agent crash to the ground a few feet ahead of him. 

“John, it’s okay. It’s me.” Doggett was covered in blood, his face a myriad of colors. Someone had worked him over good. Skinner crept forward slowly, speaking in soft tones as not to spook Doggett into trying to run again. This only seemed to further agitate the agent. 

“Why did you do this Walt? What did I do?” The voice was low and hoarse, fat tears rolling down his cheeks. But Skinner could make out the words and he froze. Blood turning to ice. It was then he felt for the first time the heavy weight in his hand and the warm tackiness that covered them. He looked down, gaping at the knife in his hand, both hands covered in blood. Both hands covered in John’s blood. The light began to fade from Doggett’s eyes, turning the bright blue to a murky gray. Skinner pulled John into his arms trying to rouse him with no luck. He opened his mouth and screamed.

~

Walter Skinner sat up in his bed, gasping for air. He checked the bed side clock, the bright red numbers flashing 7:23 at him. The sun was shining brightly into the room and it was Saturday. They had closed the Tippet case and the bastard was dead. 

~~~

“Last night I had a dream that Tippet was in my house, holding an ax. I thought I woke up this morning. I thought I was awake but-but then…” Tears were coming unbidden to his eyes but he couldn’t stop them.  
Skinner looked confused but shook it off and sent John home for the day. Doggett got out of elevator and found himself in a strange hallway. A door towards the end of the hall was open, Doggett had a hard time seeing down the hall. The lights in the hallway flickered and the was a strange blue light that was coming from the apartment. 

“Hello?” 

Doggett pushed the door further open, the downstairs was clear and he moved silently up the stairs. Doggett stepped through the only door open on the second level and saw his boss asleep in his bed. John lifted his hand and saw the ax. He managed to reverse the ax. Instead of swinging the blade at his unsuspecting boss, he swung the blade up at his own head. 

~

Doggett jerked awake to AD Skinner standing over his bed. 

“Are you okay John?”

“You just saved my life.” Skinner gave him that confused look once again.

“I just woke you up. Your front door was unlocked. Anyway, Scully and I both tried calling you but you didn’t answer. We were worried and also I thought you’d want to know, Tippet is dead.”  
John started and looked up at his boss, still not able to find the words he was looking for. 

“Must’ve been some nightmare,” John nodded, running a hand over his face.

“Sir, you don’t understand, I can’t even begin to describe what just happened. What I saw.”

“It’s okay John, it was just a bad dream.” Doggett nodded again, trying to shake off this chill that had swept over him. He had almost killed himself in the dream. “Well anyway, it’s Saturday, so I’ll get out of your  
hair. Enjoy your weekend.”

“Thank you sir.” It was Skinner’s turn to nod. John got out of the bed and walked his boss to the door. 

“Whatever it was you saw, it was just a nightmare. Just remember he’s dead. And whatever he could do or thought he could do, died with him.”

~~~

Skinner left John’s house confused but he understood the dreams were going to stay with both them for longer then they would like. Holding John’s lifeless, bloodied body in his arms, minutes before he woke up wasn’t something he’d soon forget. No matter how much he wanted to but the feelings it brought up were confusing. The look on John’s face after waking him up from the nightmare made Skinner want to wrap John up in his arms and protect him from everything that was wrong with the world. Shaking himself out of his own head, Skinner called Scully. If anyone could maybe make some sense of this, it’d be her. 

~~~

John wandered around his house aimlessly all the way through lunchtime. He wasn’t sure what to make of the dreams involving Skinner, he hadn’t had any “inclinations” since his daddy found him and his best friend kissing behind the shed when he was 15. Experimentation was normal. Logically he knew that but after the whipping he’d received because of teenage curiosity wasn’t something he ever forgot. Now his boss. One of the most masculine men he’d ever met was stirring up these feelings again.

John was tired but didn’t really want to sleep. If he was being completely honest with himself, he was afraid. Afraid that once he closed his eyes and succumbed to the dream, both he and Skinner would be dead. Eventually he spread out on his couch, intent on finishing his book. One paragraph in and John fell back into that awful world.

~~~

“Thanks for meeting me Dana.” 

“Of course sir, you sounded…not quite yourself on the phone. Is everything okay with John?”

“No, definitely not myself and its Walter, please. Agent Doggett was fine. I woke him up from a hell of a nightmare though. This last case, it’s effected both of us greatly.” 

“I read the reports. Tippet was…an interesting subject.”

“That is definitely an understatement. Look, I wanted to meet with you because you’re probably the only one that would even kind of understand what I’m trying to say.”

The waitress dropped off their coffee and the check, per their request, with a polite smile. Dana smiled back and leaned forward. More then interested in what her boss had to say. 

“Well, don’t keep me in suspense. What’s going on?”

“Since Agent Doggett met me Pittsburg, I’ve been having these dreams. Well the same dream really. Small variations here and there but it begins as I approach Agent Doggett’s front door. I find it unlocked and let myself in, knowing that I need to find him. I either find him in his bed, covered in blood or I have to chase him through the woods. When he collapses and I reach him, he’s covered in blood. In both cases he asks me why. When I look at my hands, I’m holding a knife and covered in his blood too. Then his eyes go milky and I open my mouth to scream. That’s when I wake up.”

Dana sat back, blowing out the breath she hadn’t realized she had been holding. “That’s quite a dream Walter.”

“You’re telling me. I’ve had it every night since I got the call about Agent Leeds. I’m afraid to go to sleep. And when exhaustion finally pulls me under, I’m afraid to go back to sleep after the nightmare wakes me. I thought that with Tippet dead, it might alleviate some of the stresses of the case but it hasn’t.”

“Have you spoken to John about this?”

“Of course n – Did you hear that?” Walter jerked up straight in the booth. “It was a scream. I just heard someone scream.”

“No, I didn’t hear anything.” Dana looked puzzled at her normally so composed boss’s behavior. 

“We have to go. Something’s wrong. We have to get to John. Something is happening to him.” Walter tossed a five dollar bill on the table and was out the door before Dana was even standing.

“Wait! I’ll drive. You’re not in any condition to right now.” Dana yelled after Walter, jogging to catch up to the long strides. 

They got into her car and they were off. Dana driving as fast as she could without attracting any attention to them. The AD watched the world fly by through the window without actually seeing anything. He was too focused on what he might find when they arrived at John’s house. He was sure he could hear his agent scream while sitting in that coffee shop.

Dana barely had the car stopped as Skinner darted towards the front door, it should be locked. He heard John lock it after he left this morning. With trepidation, Skinner tried the handle and the drove swung open. Just like his dream. He had his weapon out before even realizing what he was doing, Scully following suit, alarmed but trusting Skinner’s instincts. Scully broke off, checking the upstairs and Skinner approached the living only to find John fighting off an unseen foe in his sleep. Skinner approached quietly, quickly grabbing John’s wrists to prevent any lucky shots. John sat up, waking as soon Skinner touched his skin. 

“That’s the second time you’ve saved my life today sir.” John’s breath was ragged, each inhale seemingly hard then the one before it

“Walter and it’s okay John. Slow it down. Deep breaths.” One of Walter’s hands had slipped from lightly holding John’s wrist to rubbing his back and whoa thought Walter. When exactly did that happen. John didn’t seem to mind though so Walter kept up the rhythmic motion, calming the other man down. Neither man noticing Dana watching the interaction and grinning. Slipping into the kitchen to get a glass of water for her partner. 

The nightmare still fresh in his mind. John leaned forward, his forehead resting in the curve of Walter’s neck. Walter brought his other arm around the trembling man and pulled him in closer, whispering nonsense comfort words into John’s ear. 

Dana ruthlessly smothered her grin and set the water down on the table. “You two need to talk. John? You’ll give Walter a ride back to his car later? I’ll be going so you can have some privacy.”  
With that she was out the front door. Walter followed her, closing the door and locking it. John was sitting with head tipped against the back of the couch. Walter sat down close. Their thighs almost touching. 

“John, I’ve been having the same nightmare since the beginning of the Tippet case.”

“I’ve have too. I’ve been trying to kill you in mine.”

“I have killed you in mine. I’ve woken up remembering the feel of your lifeless body in my arms every morning.”

John rolls his head to the side, staring intently at his boss, turned friend. Unsure of what these horrible nightmares mean. Walter turned, knee brushing John’s thigh with the movement. Driven purely by impulse, Walter leaned in, brushing his lips across John’s in a chaste kiss. One large hand running up John’s neck, settling against his jaw. 

Pulling back, thumb stroking against the razor sharp cheek bone, “maybe this is what they meant.” Walter whispered against John’s lips. A lazy smiled stretched across both their lips. John lightly pushed Walter back into the corner of the sofa before curling against him. Both men falling into their first peaceful sleep in a little over a week


End file.
